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Following your blood pressure at home has gotten a lot easier in the last few years.
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I’m Dr. Alan Greene. I’d like to share with you a little bit about that.
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Not too long ago if you wanted to follow your blood pressure at home,
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you had to have the old fashioned sphygmomanometer,
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and the device was as complex as that word sounds.
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You had to pump something up, and put a stethoscope in your ears,
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and fumble all these different tubes and even so wouldn’t get a very accurate reading.
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Now, there are simple, high quality, digital blood pressure cuffs.
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They’re easy to use at home.
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They’re built so they snap on the arm very easily, you just press a single button,
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and the chip inside does the work for you.
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It blows it up, it gives you the reading,
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and some of the newer models even connect it to your PC and track the readings for you.
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Now, how accurate are they?
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They’re really pretty good.
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I wouldn’t trust a single reading that much if you get one that’s high or low.
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I wouldn’t either be reassured or panicked.
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But, I would trust the pattern of readings.
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So, if you have one that tracks it for you, that’s great,
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if not, just write them down what date and time you took it
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and see what the pattern is over time.
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If there’s anything of concern, be sure to report it to your physician.